


Acceptance

by Wordsdear



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, also a tiny amount of chopper, and technically we see Usopp, but this is mostly Luffy and his thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 05:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14372211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wordsdear/pseuds/Wordsdear
Summary: Set during Water Seven. When Luffy first heard the Merry was done for, he refused to accept it. Eventually he changes his mind but we never really see the thought process behind it. So here goes nothing.





	Acceptance

Usopp’s crumpled body lay before them. It was hard to tell if his chest was rising or not. Luffy was no doctor, but the angles of Usopp’s body looked wrong, like a puppet with all its strings cut. Just another broken body in a string of failures, a broken keel and now a probably broken back. One more thing he couldn’t protect. 

When Usopp had whined about carrying around the money he’d just laughed it off. ‘Cause Usopp always cried, screamed and in the end, pulled though. He was always laughing with Luffy in the end. Not this time. No do overs, no quick patches, just gone. Chopper was an amazing Doctor, but even he couldn’t bring the dead back to life. Another person killed by the world, as Luffy sat back too weak and too slow to do anything about it. He was never there when it mattered. 

 

“Is he breathing Chopper?”

It was that feeling again, like someone had ripped open his chest and taken a shit in the remaining hole. Learning about the state of the Merry had hurt too, an ache in his chest and he was so angry he just wanted to punch the walls and all the shipwrights in the face ‘till the world was right again. This was different though. Seeing Usopp’s broken body made him think of a smile with a missing tooth, of a top hat and three brothers. That it can all end in an instant, and you never even got to say goodbye. 

 

“He’s unconscious, but yes he’s breathing. He’ll live.” 

Chopper was still talking but Luffy couldn’t hear him. Nothing mattered now. Usopp was alive, and there was a house full of people waiting to be punched.

“You wait out here for us.’Kay Usopp? We’re gonna go level that stupid house to the ground”

-One ass kicking later-

Luffy stood on the crescent moon of the former Franky house, looking over the destruction he and others had made. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Chopper treating Usopp. Bandages covering the purple skin and the joints pointing the wrong way being eased back into the proper position. He looked away, staring out at the water. In the end it was simple. Usopp had almost died. 

 

He hadn’t been able to accept that the Merry was dying, that it could really be over. It felt so childish now, so small now to have kicked up his heels and make a fuss over a fact. He’d almost lost his ship, and a crewmate in one day. He could almost picture sailing on a different ship, with the crew by his side, but a future without Usopp didn’t feel right. Without his big goofy grin, the ship would feel empty. He needed Usopp, it wouldn’t be fun without him. He needed his liar, damn it, his best friend. In the end, a ship is a ship and Usopp is Usopp. Almost losing both in one day was a bit of a wake up call. This is what losing a ship feels like and this is what losing a fucking person feels like.

It was a reminder he wasn’t nearly strong enough, that he couldn’t protect everyone even if he tried. That as far as he stretched it wasn’t quite far enough to lace his fingers around everyone. There is no such this as safe for pirates. Life was danger and that was half the fun. It was freedom, free to live or die as they chose. 

 

You couldn’t draw a line in the sand and say ‘no dying allowed’. He’d punched Vivi for refusing to accept that, for not using them to help. Now he has made a lie of that. Lying was Usopp’s job. He would be so mad if he learned that Luffy had taken his thing. Sanji didn’t like Luffy’s late night “cooking”, Zoro wouldn’t let Luffy touch his swords and Nami had banned him from so much as breathing on the log pose. Chopper let him use the stethoscope though but shooed him away when he made medicine. Next time they found a ponoglyph, he would have to see if Robin would let him lick it. Maybe he would ask her when she came back.

He shook his head, even if he knew it was stupid it was true. Nami could yell at him for being an idiot all she wanted. Luffy was willing to face his own death, and greet it with a smile. But not his crew. Never.

You had to be willing to lay down your life for your dream, but only your life, no one else's. Can’t sacrifice others as that would be cheating, half assing it. Can’t lose anyone. ‘Cause that would be admitting defeat. It wouldn’t be a proper adventure. It wouldn’t be romantic. But lately it seemed like all he did was lose. Aokijo had frozen him easily, only letting him go ‘cause of Gramps and honour. Then in quick succession, the Merry and Usopp. He was tired of losing, he’d had enough. The Merry was dying. No amount of punching would fix that. But Usopp, Usopp was fine, well, broken and bleeding but alive. He wasn’t dead. There was no point dwelling in the past. Keep moving forward.

“The ship..I’ve decided..it’s time to say goodbye to the Going Merry”


End file.
